by Jesse Teller
“We are done.” Rayph dropped down beside Jon Jon and turned to face him. “End this. Leave the guards to their battle and rush back to your holes. Your men fought well. You have impressed me. Don’t come out of your hole until I call for you.”
Lyceanias smacked Jon Jon on the back. “Well done, kid.”
Rayph spoke and his sword dropped into his hand. He turned to Dran and the heartbreaking fight she was in, and he headed her way. Blade would be insane with bloodlust after she cut off his hand. Rayph worried for his friend.
He rushed into the fray, his spells on his lips, sword dancing.
The Rowdy House
Bloody child.
Rayph came to the door of the Rowdy House with a bloody little girl in his hands. He tried to kick in the door, but this structure had been built by Konnon Crillian for the express purpose of protecting children, and no kick, no matter how fierce, could break it in. The door did little more than grunt. Rayph kicked it again, crying for Konnon to open the door.
The door was thrown open and Konnon stepped out with both swords in his hands, his face screwed up for death and fire. He looked at Rayph, at the girl in his arms, and the swords disappeared instantly. He waved Rayph in and held the door open for the town guards and Manhunters behind carrying more wounded children.
A woman in white appeared as if from the air and wrapped her arms around the girl in Rayph’s grasp. Rayph stared at the woman with tears in his eyes. He held the girl tight.
“You have to give her to me so I can help her,” the woman said to Rayph. “Hand her over, and I give you my word, I will heal her myself.”
Rayph felt a hand on his shoulder and Sisalyyon squeezed. “You can let her go, Rayph. Just hand her over.”
Rayph felt the little girl leave his arms, then stepped back and sobbed. He looked at his hands and his arms, drenched in blood, and he looked up at Sisalyyon. She wrapped Rayph in a hug as he wept. He closed his eyes, and in the darkness behind the lids, he heard children weeping and crying out for parents who were likely dead. Rayph let himself be led away. The power of his self-loathing wrapped him and he suffered in the grip of it.
The handle of the mug in Konnon’s hand was bloody. The blood squelched through his fingers as he lifted the mug to his lips and drank.
“You were right to bring them here,” Konnon said. His hands and arms were coated in the blood of children, and Rayph looked at his own, getting caught up in the swirls and smears. “A healing church would have turned most of them away and done a poor job of helping the others. They are pressured by the town’s elite to use their best healing on the wealthy. Their hands are tied. They would be run out of town if they spent too much of their energy on orphans. That is why I built the triage.”
Rayph rubbed the towel given to him across his knuckles again, but the pores seemed to want to hold onto the blood, his very body reminding him of his grisly decision to allow the battle to run.
Rayph looked at Konnon and turned his eyes to Glyss, and Rayph thought he saw it there. A bit of judgment, a small slice of disappointment at his actions.
Rayph looked up to see Collette standing by the door talking to a servant. She had floating next to her a collection of what looked like gray boards. The two women talked for a few moments then the servant walked away, and Collette fixed her hair. The wizardess took a deep breath as the servant whispered to Konnon, whose face took on a slight blush before he nodded.
“Please see her in,” Konnon said.
Collette joined them at the table and gently set the boards down. Rayph could see they were slates for studies.
“There are a few here,” Collette said. “That is to say, a bunch. What I mean is, there are about fourteen boards, and I brought a bag of chalk, too.” She giggled. Rayph stared at her, alarmed, before turning to Trysliana, who covered her grin with a mug.
“Oh, okay, well then, that is fine. I see, okay,” Konnon stammered. Collette looked at Rayph but seemed too nervous to speak. “You can stay if you want,” Konnon said. “That is, I have a bit of wine and you can talk with us if you—”
Collette looked as if her heart was breaking when she shook her head. “I can’t. I have a few things to do. I mean, I really want to, you know, but I have to run away.” Her eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. “No, not run away. I have to go, is what I meant.” She dropped her head and turned to go. “I’m sorry.”
Rayph called after her.
Collette turned around with her face blazing red.
“Did you forget the chalk?” Rayph said.
Collette nodded and shook her head. She walked up to them and dropped a bag full of chalk on the table.
Konnon grabbed her hand quickly but gently. She froze, looking into his eyes and smiling. “Thank you, Collette. This will help a lot.”
She nodded. “Anything you need, Konnon.” She squeezed his hand. “Anything.”
Konnon watched her walk away. He smiled before turning back to the table, winded and breathing heavy. “That was Collette.”
Rayph looked at Trysliana who smiled. “I approve,” she said.
Konnon blushed.
“How is Bree?” Trysliana asked.
Konnon’s face lit up. “She is doing so well. She adapted to her new legs almost immediately. She helps here at the House. She is in our school wing, teaching the kids how to write. She is focused on the common tongue, but there are a few children she is teaching the tongue of the Sentries. She says the extra challenge occupies their minds and keeps them from the life of crime that waits for them outside of my doors.”
“Can I see her?” Rayph said.
Konnon grabbed a kid who was passing by. He pulled the child into his lap and tickled him. The boy fought and kicked and laughed, and Konnon stopped tickling, still holding the child tight. “I’m gonna keep tickling you until you go get Bree.” He growled at the boy.
He set the child down and the boy ran. Rayph noticed a smear of blood on the child’s back and looked away.
Within a few minutes, Bree stood before him. She pulled at the hem of her dress as she curtsied.
“Bree, this is Rayph Ivoryfist. Do you remember him?”
Rayph got caught up in the girl’s eyes and the curve of her smile. She was beautiful but far too tall to be Bree.
“This is Bree?” Rayph asked.
Trysliana grabbed the girl and kissed her over and over again. Bree giggled and Rayph fought back tears. He looked at her ethereal legs, the skirt Bree wore flapping and vibrating in the slight wind of her legs.
“How old are you now?” Rayph asked the girl after she fought her way out of Trysliana’s grip.
“I am twelve, master Ivoryfist. It has been seven years since you saved my life. I hope you see it well lived,” Bree said.
Rayph remembered working on the girl’s ethereal legs in Dova’s tower. He looked into her eyes and saw a fierce intelligence, and one of the loveliest faces he had ever seen.
“I brought you—” Rayph hitched a sob. He grunted and looked away. When his eyes returned, Bree listened with a concerned and patient face. “I brought you a few more wards,” Rayph said.
“No you didn’t, master. You brought me more brothers and sisters.” She kissed Rayph’s forehead and turned to her father. “Father, the headmistress of the triage says we need more bandages and thread.”
Konnon looked at Glyss, who nodded.
“I’ll take care of it,” Glyss said. He motioned with his head in Rayph’s direction as he left. Rayph looked at Konnon and could see there was more.
“I want you to go and clean the slates,” Konnon said to Bree. “I got more chalk this morning and we will need to have clean boards for tomorrow.”
Bree looked at her father and back to Rayph. She seemed to puzzle something out in her head before nodding and bowing to Rayph. “Master Ivoryfist, it was so nice seeing you again. Aunt Trys,” Bree kissed Trysliana and rushed off.
Rayph turned to Konnon and waved him on. “You
have something to say to me. I want to hear it,” Rayph said, bracing himself for the worst of it.
“I’m going to hit Jon Jon,” Konnon said.
Rayph looked at his lap and gritted his teeth. “I can’t have you doing that, Rowdy.”
“I know you need him. And I’m going to stay away until you are done using him. But he is recruiting out of my house. And I can’t have it,” Konnon said. “The other gangs know not to come within a six-block radius of my place. These streets are a haven for the orphaned youth here in Dragonsbane. But Jon Jon has repeatedly broke my rules. He has no respect for me, and in order to keep this place safe, I am going to have to hit him.”
“When are you going to do this?” Rayph asked. He turned to see Trysliana watching very carefully as they talked.
“You need him to get rid of Chaos. I know that. I’ll respect that, but when you’re done with him, I’m going to hit him and hit him hard. You need to know. I don’t care if you warn him, but I would rather you not.”
“I will not warn him against you. Can I talk to him on your behalf?” Rayph said. “I’m sure I can get him to see reason.”
“That boy hates you, Rayph. Don’t act like you have a better relationship with him than me. Don’t insult my information network like that,” Konnon said. “He despises you and would not listen to a thing you said. He doesn’t listen to anything. He is a thug. He has crossed a line. I will shove him back over it.”
“Are you going to kill him?” Rayph asked.
Konnon dropped his mug on the table and wiped his mouth. “No, I have no interest in killing him. He is but a boy. What is he, sixteen? No, he has not earned a death. But I need to keep this city fearing me and my organization. If I let this slide, I will have real troubles.”
Trysliana looked at Rayph with a scowl.
“Listen, I love what you do here. Anything I can do to help is what I’m going to do. You have my power at your command,” Rayph said. “I have a war to fight.”
“And it is spilling into the streets.”
Rayph felt his throat close up on him before he nodded. “Things got out of hand today. There is no doubt about it. I will not let that happen again. The threat has changed. I got Shiv off the streets. Dragonsbane is that much safer because of it.”
“I agree. But you did it on the backs of orphans,” Konnon said.
Rayph stood and drew in a breath to spew his rage, but when he looked at Konnon’s calm face, the bluster ran right out of him. He sat back down and dropped his head in his hands. “It is going to haunt me forever.”
“Good,” Konnon said.
Rayph looked up at him in shock.
“It should. Learn from it. This was too high a price to pay, Rayph.” Konnon held the bloody towel up to Rayph’s face. “I want you to take this towel with you when you go. I want you to carry it everywhere you go for the rest of your life.”
Rayph looked at the towel. His heart stopped. He saw it then for what it was, a shackle to a prison he would live in forever.
“This towel is your reminder of what happened here this day. You are a long living man. You will be around long after all I have built here is dried up and gone. You will live for hundreds of thousands of years, but you cannot be allowed to forget what happened here. Take my towel. It will break your heart for the rest of your life, but you will be a better man for it.
“Now, can I get you to talk to my teenage class before you leave town? I have told them a lot about what you do. I’m trying to raise heroes, and I think they need to see heroes occasionally.”
“Before we move on, I will bring all the Manhunters here to give lectures and talk,” Rayph said.
“And hug children,” Trysliana said.
“And feed them,” Konnon said. “I need extra hands ladling soup.”
“I can give you a spell that can keep this place clean for,” Rayph laughed. “Well, forever.”
“Not necessary,” Konnon said. “I like to have my boys clean the house.”
“Your boys?” Trysliana said.
“One day they will marry women and build a life, and I think they should have to do a few loads of laundry before they expect the same out of a wife. They need to wash a dish. They need to darn a sock.”
Trysliana laughed.
Rayph looked at his friend and smiled. He had to admit, Konnon had everything Rayph ever wanted for him.
The Bite of the Rat
“She is awake?” Rayph asked. The priest nodded and motioned for him to follow.
“Dissonance has been bitten by a wererat. We have no idea if the curse is going to take hold. We have no idea if she will be able to control her change if it does. This just may be the end of Dissonance’s ability to serve Cor-lyn-ber.”
“How can that be?” Rayph said horrified. “How long has she served?”
“She has served Cor-lyn-ber all her life. She is almost thirty. It will be a great loss for our god.”
“Your god? The loss will be for your god? What about his daughter? What about Dissonance? He will turn his back on her. What about healing?”
But Rayph knew better. No healing spell or potion could reverse the curse of lycanthropy. No god could overturn it. No known source of power could save those damned by the bite. Dissonance could not be helped.
“You know as well as anyone this cannot be cured. You know there is no hope for her. You should have thought of this before you ordered her to battle with a werecreature.”
Rayph stepped back and turned away. He could not look upon the priest. Many other members of the clergy stood around them. Some trying to pray, some talking to commoners and other visitors to the church. All of them shifted disapproving glances at Rayph.
“I had no other choice,” Rayph said. “She had the only weapon that could harm him. A holy blade, a blade kissed by a god. No other weapon could have brought him to ground. The fault is not my own. She knew the threat. She knew what I was asking of her.”
“And you knew she would do it no matter the cost. You know of her love for you.”
“Love?”
“Dissonance has always taken great pride in serving with the Manhunters. She had been asked by the church to take another post, but she refused. She said she would not turn from you and the work you were doing. She loved her place among your people. She thought she was making a difference.”
“She did make a difference, I mean, she does,” Rayph said. “She is my rock, the one I call on when all is lost. When I get in deep, too deep to crawl out of, she comes to my rescue. She is– Dissonance is the soul of our family.”
“You do not have a family, Rayph. That is not what the Manhunters are. Friends, they may be, but they are all slaves to your command. You offer no chance for redirection. No chance for them to turn you away. You are the unfettered master of all you command. How long have you been calling the dance for this nation? What king could stand up to you for long?”
“Phomax told me no. He defied me.” Rayph did not like his use of that word, did not approve of the way it rolled off his tongue.
“You have been the king of Lorinth for ten thousand years, your hand and yours alone guiding the royal family for millennia. Undisputed ruler and commander you are, with your influence over the kings and queens of this nation, you have—”
“I have helped keep this nation safe.”
“You have created a nice, safe place for you to hide. What happens when you are done with us? When your time here comes to an end and you are ready to go back home? I know you strive to set that wizard on your hip free from his cage. No matter if he is insane or not, no matter the power at his command, you mean to set him free upon the world and run back home. Where will you leave us?”
The priest stopped at a great set of doors and turned back to Rayph. “We have been told by Dissonance of your pride. We have been told of your disdain for your god Vanyel. You are not a man of belief. You are not a man of faith.”
“I am a man of belief,” Rayph said.
Rayph had no way of telling. He had no way of proving or explaining his belief. Vanyel had brought him back in Hemlock only to find Rayph ignoring him after the fight for his soul had been won. When Rayph had called on the healing powers of Vanyel, he had been ignored.
“I’m waiting, Rayph. Tell me, what do you believe in?”
“Honor, truth, the power of good over evil, the power to rule with wisdom and vision. I believe in—”
“These are all virtues of a man to be sure, but you have displayed very few in the time you have been with Dissonance. You are prone to outburst, prone to temper flares and rage. For too long you have been allowed to do whatever you want with the most powerful people in the nation at your command. The Manhunters now have the power to claim any position within the nation, to take anything they want from the people and recruit anyone they see fit. They are as powerful as the king and they are led by pride and ego. This can only lead to darkness. This will be the undoing of Lorinth.”
“Manhunters are–” Rayph had so many words to say at this point, so many ideals he used to forge his band of heroes. He had an entire speech ready, but as he stood here, with this man judging him, he knew none of it was real.
Rayph had allowed himself to create a power higher than the king of the land. He had manipulated Thomas into giving him so much power that Rayph was now, in essence, the king of Lorinth. Rayph pulled back from the priest, and the man opened the doors before them.
“She is at the end of the hall. I will let you see her as long as you do not let her get up and walk around. She is weak and needs rest and the care that only her people can give her.”
“I can take her back to her church,” Rayph said. “I know where it is and she can recover there.”
“You are not taking her from her faith. We know of her church in Ironfall. It is obvious to me now this is why you have come. Let me tell you this. She stays with us. You cannot have her.”
Rayph walked the hallway slowly, unable to think of what he would say to her when he got there. He thought of his love for her, his need for her power and her blade. He thought of the way he had decided when he met her, when she came to avenge her father’s life, that he could use her. She had been a tool to him ever since, a fist to swing at his enemies. Many times, he had failed her. Many times, he had let her down.
